Huddersfield, HD1 (Station Area)

Image: © David Hallam-Jones Taken: 2 Jul 2012

An image of the former Empire Picture House on the corner plot formed by Brook Street and John Williams Street taken from the boundary wall of one of the railway station car parks. When it opened in 1915 it had 796 seats divided between the stalls and a single balcony. The overall design was by the Stocks & Sykes, a local firm. In 1933 it was owned by Associated British Cinemas who sold it on to Goldstone Cinemas, an independent company, in 1940. It was modernised internally at that point in an Art Deco style with a new proscenium and flank walls containing concealed lighting. More recently part of it became a sex cinema and in another part of it, the front foyer, a bed shop was opened. At around this time there was also a cyber cafe in the rear stalls area. Then in 2011 the front foyer was in use as a second-hand clothing shop. Since 1998, it has been designated a Grade II-listed building

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